Windjana Gorge is a 3.5 km gorge, carved out of the Napier Range by the Lennard River. The Napier Range is part of an ancient barrier reef system (in the Devonian period, over 300 million years ago, this whole area was under the ocean...) An easy 3.5km walk brings you to the gorge with its walls on both sides 30 to 100 metres high; the gorge is over 100 metres wide and has a number of slumbering freshwater crocodiles dozing on the sand beside the water.
Entry to the gorge was through a narrow chasm
TUNNEL CREEK National Park's standout highlight is the 750 metre tunnel that a creek has worn through the Napier Range. The tunnel is the oldest cave system in Western Australia. It became famous in the late 1800s. Aboriginal leader and "outlaw" Jandamarra (better known as "Pigeon") was using the "Cave of Bats" (also called "Pigeon Cave" = Tunnel Creek) as his hideout. After years of playing hide and seek with the police he ended up being killed in front of it, by another Aboriginal tracker, in 1897. A torch is needed to navigate the tunnel/cave plus a pair of shoes you are prepared to get wet as some of the walk is through shallow water. Bats inhabit the cave and water drips from the roof in places - well worth the effort to take the walk.
a torch and "wet shoes" were required to travel through the tunnel
entrance/exit to the tunnel after passing under the mountain
the creek continues on through the beautiful woodlands
It became famous in the late 1800s. Aboriginal leader and "outlaw" Jandamarra (better known as "Pigeon") was using the "Cave of Bats" (also called "Pigeon Cave" = Tunnel Creek) as his hideout. After years of playing hide and seek with the police he ended up being killed in front of it, by another Aboriginal tracker, in 1897.
A torch is needed to navigate the tunnel/cave plus a pair of shoes you are prepared to get wet as some of the walk is through shallow water.
Bats inhabit the cave and water drips from the roof in places - well worth the effort to take the walk.